Multiple-Goals Path Planning for Coordinate Measuring Machines

Path planning is a crucial step in automatic programming of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). The goal is to generate an efficient and collision-free path for the CMM to inspect a collection of points. Previous research concentrates on path planning between two points, or sequencing the points without regard to obstacles and collisions. In this paper we propose a practical path planner that considers both sequencing and collision avoidance. The main idea is to create a roadmap of free-space, where the measurement points are nodes in the network. Once all the measurement points are in a single connected component of the roadmap, then a tour of the points is found by solving the appropriate traveling salesperson problem. CMM heuristics are used to construct the roadmap in an efficient and robust manner. The planner has been implemented and tested on real-world mechanical parts.